Nurses face violence on the job

Online medical journal Medscape reports that on-the-job violence is a serious concern for professional nurses across the country.

The latest data from National Nurses United showed that 8 in 10 nurses have experienced at least one incident of workplace violence, and 45% reported an increase in workplace violence in their unit in the past year. The violence registered nurses (RNs) experience includes verbal and physical threats of being pinched, scratched, slapped, punched, and kicked, according to the story in Medscape.

The incidents often go unreported despite their toll on professional nurses.

The American Nurses Association cites issues that include poor or nonexistent hospital policies and procedures, complex reporting procedures, and beliefs that patients cannot be held accountable for their actions as reasons that up to 80 percent of workplace violence against nurses is never documented.

Many hospitals fall short when it comes to addressing workplace violence. A recent healthcare workplace report found that 43 percent of nurses said hospitals ignored their complaint of workplace violence and 12 percent said that administrators sided with the perpetrators. Moreover, 74 percent of healthcare organizations fall below the benchmark for a safe work environment and have “notable gaps” in workplace safety and preparedness, putting nurses at risk.

Gordon L. Gillespie, PhD, DNP, adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing, and chief program officer for the National League for Nursing, told Medscape that he was often the target of violence when he worked in the emergency department of a community-based hospital from 1998 to 2012. Even nurses who don’t want to file reports with law enforcement should still report physical violence, verbal aggression, and threats internally.

“Institutions should make it required,” he said. “Increased reporting [provides] measurable data that you can act on.”

Read the full story in Medscape online.

Featured top image courtesy of Istock.